Must Love Kneazles
by Kerichi
Summary: When Mrs. Figg gives Harry a part-Kneazle kitten, he passes it along to Andromeda and Teddy, sparking healing and maybe romance.


Andromeda raced to the front door. At sixteen months old, her grandson already showed signs of following in his mother's footsteps of wanting to boycott afternoon naps before the age of two. If the person on her front step woke Teddy, if Andromeda didn't get the chance to finish chores that were impossible to accomplish while minding a whirlwind toddler, nothing would staunch her fury. The sign above the doorbell plainly stated: **No Soliciting.**

She yanked the door open.

Harry Potter stood on the welcome mat holding a cardboard box. The lid had suspicious holes in it.

She lowered her wand.

An expression of relief crossed Harry's face. Andromeda knew that the weight she'd lost since the war had sharpened her cheekbones and whittled away any excess softness. She could avoid looking in mirrors, but Harry was confronted with her resemblance to Bellatrix every time he visited his godson.

"G-good afternoon," he said. "The front garden looks nice. The gardener one of the Aurors recommended is working out for you?"

"Alan Firth. Yes. He told me that he's your trainer's ex-brother in law." He had also admitted, when pressed, to owning a landscape maintenance company, which furthered her impression that his work for her was a charitable deed for a war widow. If she didn't keep an eye on him, Mr. Firth would leave without being paid.

"Auror Crantz has loads of ex-brother in laws," Harry said. "May I come in?"

"If you talk softly," she said. "Teddy's napping."

Harry wiped his feet on the doormat and walked into the foyer. "Your house always smells good."

There must be something in the box that he wanted to unload on her if he was leading with a compliment. She said, "It's the beeswax and lemon oil polish."

In the lounge, Nymphadora's beloved purple velvet chesterfield sofa was the only adult sized furniture. A cottage playhouse and a red and white toadstool table and chairs took up one end of the room. Aside from the sofa, the rest of the space was empty so Teddy could toddle back and forth across the rug unimpeded. He had so much energy. She sat at one end of the sofa. Harry perched on the other with the cardboard box between them.

"Where do you put the baby toys?" he asked. "Everything's so tidy."

Andromeda lifted the top of the toadstool table. "The interior storage is maximized with a Capacious Charm. When you aren't here to play with him, Teddy loves to drag out all his toys and put them back in again."

"What's that white box in the corner?"

"That's the box his newest toys came in, which of course he prefers to the toys themselves." She raised her brows slightly. "What's in your box?"

Harry removed the lid. A speckled orange cat with ridiculously large, pointed ears and a tail with a tassel at the end like a miniature lion's sprang out and leaped to the top of the sofa.

"He's three-quarters Kneazle. Still a kitten, according to my old neighbour, Mrs. Figg," Harry said. "He squeezed through her cat door one morning. She put a notice in the _Daily Prophet_ , but no one answered, so she gave him to me. Since I'm never home, I thought of Teddy."

Because a magical creature famed for aggression towards those it disliked was the ideal pet for a toddler who might try to pat it and smack it in the eyes or pull its tail. "When did she give him to you?"

Harry's smile was sheepish. "Security called me down to the Atrium around 1:30, and there was Mrs. Figg with the box."

He explained that she'd looked so happy to give something special to him, he couldn't say no, although between his job hours and his worry that the Kneazle wouldn't get on with Kreacher, Harry couldn't keep the animal. He'd left work and Flooed from London to Andromeda's town, which had a small station accessed through a concealed entrance behind a wizard-owned corner market.

"You'll take him, won't you?" Harry asked. "Mrs. Figg said Kneazle hair doesn't have the protein that causes allergies, and he won't shed much."

Andromeda had a talent for Cleaning Charms, not Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, although the point wasn't worth arguing. She regarded the Kneazle. He stared back at her with pale amber eyes and then jumped down to curl up on her lap. He began to purr. She said, "I may as well take him, seeing as your co-parenting Teddy gives me so much free time."

Harry laughed. "Who said we were co-parenting? _The Intruder?"_

"Someone sent Narcissa the article. She thought it was amusing and passed it along." Poor Mr. Firth had been mowing the back garden that day, and when Andromeda brought him a glass of water, she had bluntly spoken her mind about the ignorance of tabloid reporters who believed an afternoon visit once or twice a month equalled _co-parenting._ When he'd smilingly agreed, she'd snapped at him to put on a shirt or cast another sunscreen spell. Wizards got skin cancer the same as Muggles.

"I wish I could do more for Teddy," Harry said.

He did mean well, and he tried to help as much as he could. They exchanged letters about Teddy regularly. She said, "When he's older you can take him to Quidditch matches, and then there's _The Talk_."

Green eyes widened. "Shouldn't that come from you?"

"No, dear. That's something that needs to be discussed man to man."

Harry swallowed hard. "Man to man . . . right . . . but that won't happen for years. I might know what to say by then."

"You'll have lots of Weasleys to ask for advice."

"Yeah." Harry got to his feet. "I need to get back to the Ministry." He looked at the Kneazle and asked, "What will you name him?"

"Leo, I think, after the constellation."

"That'll be easy for Teddy to say."

Andromeda said, "I'm sure Teddy will call him 'Lee' the way he calls you 'Hee'."

They shared a "isn't he the cutest baby ever" smile.

Harry said, "And you're MeMe."

"For mémère. I can only abide being called granny in French."

Harry grinned. "You don't look like any granny I know."

"Thank you." She walked him to the door. "Will you be joining us for Sunday dinner?"

He shook his head regretfully. "The Weasleys are having a family picnic at The Burrow." His expression brightened. "Would you come with me? It's been months since everyone saw Teddy."

"He's teething," Andromeda said. "I'm not sure I can inflict his fussiness on others. I'll let you know by the end of the week." It was only Monday. She'd have five days to come up with a better excuse, anything other than the truth: she felt hellishly awkward around the Weasleys. They looked at her and saw Bellatrix, something she could deal with one on one with Harry, but it was much harder when an entire family's initial reaction on seeing her was to flinch or glance away.

She returned to the lounge and knelt down on the rug to gaze directly into the eyes of the Kneazle making himself at home on a sofa cushion. "There's only one way I will trust you with the most precious thing in my life." She cast a _Fidus_ Spell to ensure he would loyally protect her family. A drop of blood welled up on her fingertip. She offered it to Leo. "It isn't Dark magic. You have to be willing."

He licked the blood.

Fifteen minutes after Harry left, the doorbell rang again. "I hope that's a delivery of kitten food," Andromeda told Leo.

Alan Firth stood on her doorstep. He wore nicely pressed trousers and a dress shirt with sleeves rolled to a precise three-quarters length. Andromeda was uncomfortably aware of the contrast in their appearance. Normally, he was the one dressed in casual shorts and a t-shirt. His light brown eyes twinkled. She fought the urge to curl her toes and hide that she'd finally used the Fire Crab nail varnish Nymphadora had slipped into her basket on one of their last trips to the market.

"Mr. Firth. I didn't expect you until Friday." She glanced at the lorry parked on the pea gravel drive and made the connection. "Harry contacted you?"

"By Patronus. Luckily, I was finalising a contract with a wizard client, not a Muggle one." He grinned boyishly. "The silver stag bounding through the wall was amazing."

"I'm sure." Mr. Firth's wavy brown hair showed only a few greys. Was he a few years younger than her? She didn't remember him from Hogwarts. "He asked you to deliver kitten food?"

"Yes, but that looks like a full grown cat." His eyes were on Leo, who reminded her a bit of Teddy, pressing close to her leg when a stranger drew near. "Is he a Kneazle?"

"Three-quarters. His name is Leo."

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Leo." Mr. Firth said. "Call me Alan. I've been your new friend's gardener for over a year. Surely we can call each other by our first names." He looked at Andromeda meaningfully.

She refused to blush. "Such logical reasoning. Were you a Ravenclaw, Alan?"

"Hufflepuff."

He'd known Ted. Andromeda couldn't ask how. The lump of emotion in her throat wouldn't let her. She started to walk past him toward the lorry.

He touched her arm. "There's more than kitten food. I'll bring everything in."

His fingers were warm and slightly calloused. He worked with his hands, not just with spells. Andromeda said, "All right."

Alan used his wand to open the lorry's side door, and then box after box floated out.

"What's all this?" Andromeda asked.

"Window perches and cat shelves, mostly, so Leo has places in every room to get up out of Teddy's reach."

"Do you have a cat?" He seemed awfully knowledgeable.

"My ex-wife does," Alan said. "I felt so sorry for all the unwanted affection that Persian endured that I put up shelving for her to escape whenever she'd had enough."

The description of his ex-wife brought up a memory of the Hufflepuff who had attached herself like a leech to Ted before he and Andromeda became a couple. "Your ex wasn't Mary Sullivan?"

Alan grimaced. "Mary Sullivan is the last witch I'd ever fancy."

Andromeda smiled. "I used a spell to spray water in her face once."

The twinkle returned to Alan's eyes. "She ranted about it in the Common Room for weeks."

The further reminder that he'd known Ted at Hogwarts knotted Andromeda's stomach. "Bring the boxes into the kitchen. I'll pour us glasses of lemonade." She should have offered Harry a cold drink, but he'd surprised her with his "gift" and then he'd needed to return to Auror training. She'd make it up to him on his next visit. Bake something. She hadn't baked a cake or pie in ages.

She and Alan unpacked the boxes. Aside from window perches, there was a set of dark wood wall perches in varying sizes that resembled waves. Other climbing shelves had an enclosed space at the end that could be used to hold books or decorative items while a feline perched on top.

"You're so elegant, I had to choose shelving to match," he said when she praised his choices.

Andromeda lifted a brow.

He chuckled. "I admit, I wasn't thinking of you wearing shorts with rainbow varnish on your toenails."

But he had been thinking about her. Andromeda finished her lemonade with unladylike speed. "Do you have time to help me put up the shelves? I'm not sure how Teddy will react to Leo, but if he treats him like that box he's always toting around, Leo will need an escape route."

Alan said, "I have time."

Teddy's magically amplified "MeMe" rang out as they were putting the last cat shelf up in the lounge.

"Go on up. I'll finish this," Alan said.

Suddenly curious, Andromeda asked, "Do you have children?"

"No. Two nephews, though. The oldest wants to be an Auror like his ex-uncle, and the younger one makes Outstanding marks in Herbology and wants to work for me."

"That's nice."

" _MeMe!"_

She said, "I'd make him wait to teach him not to yell, but he'll start crying and losing his breath." Alan was smiling at her like she was a softie, which she certainly wasn't. Andromeda turned on her heel and walked down the corridor—and then ran up the stairs.

Alan was waiting in the foyer when she and Teddy came downstairs.

Andromeda told him, "I'm sorry you had to wait. I couldn't dissuade my grandson from scooting down the steps on his bum, although I won the argument about holding my hand." There was no arguing with a toddler. She'd coaxed him into holding her hand.

"So I heard."

The Amplification Charm. "Shit." Embarrassment kicked the word out of her mouth.

Teddy, his hair turquoise blue, his happy colour, crowed, "Shi!"

Alan's eyes laughed, although he had the sense to press his lips together and not encourage a toddler to use vulgar language.

"Thank you for all your help." She picked Teddy up. He held out his hand like a mini traffic warden telling Alan to stop.

"Is that his goodbye wave?" Alan asked.

Teddy bent his fingers to his palm. "Bye!" He held out his hand again, and then put it up to Andromeda's mouth. She obligingly kissed it. "It's just a thing he does."

Alan stepped closer. Teddy grinned, showing his four teeth and the one coming in at the bottom. He held out his little chubby hand again. Alan kissed it.

No amount of willpower could prevent scorching heat from burning Andromeda's cheeks. "Goodbye," she said.

"Goodbye." He smiled at Teddy and bent his fingers exactly the way her grandson had.

When the front door closed behind them, words she'd often scolded Nymphadora for slipped out of her mouth. "Oh damn, hell, shit."

Teddy giggled. _"Shi!"_

 _._

Leo and Teddy were not instant best mates. Teddy tried to pick Leo up like he was a furry box. Leo immediately wriggled out of the toddler's arms and jumped up on a cat shelf. Teddy burst into tears. Andromeda spent the rest of the day distracting Teddy from stalking the new object of his affection from room to room. Twice, she broke down and smeared wet cat food onto her grandson's palm so Leo would "kiss" it.

By the time she tucked Teddy into his cot, Andromeda was too tired to fill the tub for a relaxing bath. She took a quick shower and climbed into bed. "Sleep wherever you want," she told Leo. He jumped up on the bed. She turned onto her left side. He curled against her back. She considered shooing him away, but his warmth triggered memories. Ted had laughed when she'd told him that Blacks didn't cuddle. "You're a Tonks now," he'd said. She had tried to turn away, turned onto her side, but he'd pressed against her back, and eventually she had relaxed into his warmth. She'd learn to enjoy it, and then love it.

She and Ted had both cuddled Nymphadora, who had claimed nightmares until she left for Hogwarts, grinning as she climbed into bed with them. In the weeks after Ted left to protect them from Snatchers and Remus left thinking he was protecting his unborn son, mother and daughter had cuddled again, clinging to each other and to the belief that they would all be together in the end.

Tears slid down Andromeda's face. _Ted, Dora, I miss you so much!_

She cried for the happy times that were gone, and for the moments that could have been. She wept for the daughter, son-in-law, and husband who would never kiss Teddy's hand.

In the morning, Andromeda faced her reflection in the mirror. She didn't look like Bellatrix. She and Bellatrix had always resembled their father, Cygnus Black, a haughty, bitter man who put pride above family and in the end died alone. _If I had a boggart, would he look like you, Father?_ _I'm not haughty, and I'm trying not to be bitter._ She lifted her chin. _I put family first._

The next day, she packed Teddy's changing bag and stowed it into the cargo basket of his running buggie before she strapped him in. "Lee!" Teddy cried, straining against his restraints, arms outstretched.

"I'll stop by the pet shop and buy him a halter so he can go with us next time," Andromeda said. Leo climbed the shelves to lie on the long perch in front of the transom window above the front door. Teddy cried until he was distracted by a butterfly fluttering across the drive.

"Bee!" he cried.

"Hmmm," she said. If she maintained a moderate pace, they should arrive at the Owl Post Office exactly when it opened. She pushed the buggy and jogged. The postal worker was five minutes late opening the doors to the public. _I am not haughty,_ Andromeda told herself as she civilly bid him good morning instead of tapping her watch. She handed him her letter addressed to Harry Potter.

"MeMe will buy an owl when you're older and she's no longer in danger of becoming a hermit," she told Teddy as they headed to the pet shop. Running errands, taking him to the Paediatric Healer, and shopping were the only times she left the house.

The pet shop was Muggle. The teenaged sales associate cooed over Teddy and escorted them to the cat section. Andromeda chose a blue large sized harness and lead set that had reflective moons and stars. She noticed a wall perch covered in shaggy brown carpeting.

"Not my taste either," the sales associate said. "We had some posh ones, but a customer came in yesterday and bought them all for a friend." She gave Andromeda a between-us-girls look. "I think he was trying to impress a _lady_ friend."

Andromeda dug through the changing bag to find the coin purse that held her Muggle money. The sales associate took the hint and went to the checkout till to ring up the sale.

.

That night, with Leo curled up at the small of her back, Andromeda dreamt that she was back at Hogwarts, and as she entered the Great Hall for breakfast, she saw that a blonde girl with an annoying laugh sat next to Ted at the Hufflepuff table.

 _She grabbed the sleeve of a third year boy nearby. He wore accents of yellow and black. She asked, "Who's that sitting next to Ted Tonks?"_

 _The boy craned his neck. "Mary Sullivan."_

 _Andromeda arched an eyebrow. "You sound as if you don't like her."_

 _The boy's light brown eyes twinkled. "She doesn't wear shorts or Fire Crab nail varnish."_

Andromeda jolted awake. Alan Firth was the third year she'd spoken to all those years ago! He hadn't liked Mary Sullivan because she made a show of wanting to help her younger housemates, but when he'd asked for assistance, she'd told him to revise more. Andromeda had given him some advice on how to memorise magical herbs and fungi, but she'd never found out if he'd taken it.

.

The next morning, she pushed Teddy in his running buggy into town with Leo on his lead beside them. The Kneazle kept up a brisker pace than she'd anticipated. They were standing in front of Firth Landscaping Inc. when Alan drove past in a grey Muggle car with the company logo on the passenger door. He screeched to a halt and then reversed. The passenger window lowered.

"Good morning," he said.

She asked, "Did you ever pick up _A Child's First Encyclopaedia of Magical Herbs and Fungi_ at the village bookshop?"

"Yes, I did." Alan got out of the car and joined her on the pavement. "I didn't think you remembered."

She said dryly, "It took a while. You've changed."

He smiled down at her. "Thanks."

Andromeda took a deep breath and blurted out before she changed her mind, "Would like to have to dinner with me and Teddy tonight?" She was ready to hear his stories about Ted. "Six o'clock?"

"I'd love to." When she nodded and started to push Teddy's buggy, he asked, "Would you allow me to take you to dinner some night, just the two of us?" He managed to say with an almost straight face, "If Harry Potter is co-parenting, he should be happy to mind the baby for a few hours."

Dinner some night, just the two of them—was she ready for that? Andromeda said, "I'll ask him Sunday."

.

* * *

.

A/N: The oddest things inspire. After writing a one shot about Tom Riddle, I couldn't help wanting to write a story that celebrated love and had a romance that was beginning, not ending. I thought, "What if Harry gave Andromeda a Kneazle? How would that spark a romance?" and then I remembered my Ted and Andromeda one shot **Hey, You! I Don't Like Your Girlfriend** and the third-year boy she questioned when she saw the girl sitting by Ted. After all the time that's passed, a few years' difference in age is nothing. _Must Love Kneazles_ came from the film _Must Love Dogs_ that I actually never saw, but I liked the title, so I used a variation of it.


End file.
